Landlord buy-to-let purchases ‘fall by £5.2bn in three years’

The value of property purchases by landlords taking place over a six-month period has fallen by £5.2 billion in just three years, a report has found.

In the first half of 2018, landlords spent £12.1 billion on new buy-to-let purchases, £5.2 billion or nearly a third (30%) less than in the first half of 2015 when the total value of purchases was £17.3 billion, according to calculations by Hamptons International.

Based on its own data, it estimates that landlords bought 64,260 homes across Britain in the first half of 2018, 31% less than in the first half of 2015.

The report said the £12.1 billion is the lowest six-month total for buy-to-let purchases in five years – since £11.2 billion in the first half of 2013.

The average price of a home bought by a landlord is £174,580, 4% less than last year and 7% less than in 2016, Hamptons said.

It said the fall in the average house purchase price has been fuelled by landlords focusing their purchases on cheaper buy-to-let homes further north, with the South East of England having seen a particularly sharp 45% fall in landlord purchases since 2015.

As they look for lower stamp duty bills and higher rental yields, some 61% of London-based landlords now purchase their buy-to-let properties outside the capital – more than double the proportion in 2012, when 25% did so, Hamptons estimates.

Landlords have seen their profits squeezed by tax changes in recent years.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research, Hamptons International, said: “The total value of homes purchased by landlords has fallen by over £5 billion in just three years.

“This is due to landlords buying fewer buy-to-lets and investors spending less on the homes they do buy.”

Here are the numbers of homes purchased by landlords in the first half of 2018 and the percentage change compared with the first half of 2015, according to estimates from Hamptons International:

– South East, 7,980, minus 45%
– Scotland, 2,800, minus 44%
– South West, 5,510, minus 40%
– London, 9,070, minus 36%
– East, 5,330, minus 34%
– Wales, 3,070, minus 32%
– Yorkshire and the Humber, 5,700, minus 25%
– East Midlands, 5,460, minus 23%
– West Midlands, 7,300, minus 17%
– North West, 8,620, minus 16%
– North East, 3,520, minus 11%